CHRIS LOWREY
SHAWVILLE Sept. 2, 2018
Although Sunday started with a healthy amount of rain, those who attended the early morning events managed to get out of the downpour and keep dry.
The light horse show got started bright and early in the arena. Riders showed off their skill and control as they navigated the ring.
The show was judged by Melanie Leach from Kemptville, who’s been judging horse events for seven years.
Her ring steward was Shauna McKenna, whom Leach referred to as her “wingman.”
Later in the morning, the live music lovers on the dance floor in the beer tent from the night before were replaced with livestock for the sheep show.
The show’s judge, Anna McIntyre, made the trip from Renfrew to lend her keen eye for the event.
McIntyre owns Southdown sheep at her Renfrew farm and shows miniature horses as well.
She’s been judging sheep shows – along with some miniature horse shows – for nearly a decade. Her agricultural expertise goes beyond judging as she’s also served as a 4-H leader for 16 years.

McIntyre said she was pleased to see the dozen or so youngsters who were participating in the event.
“It’s really nice to see,” she said. “Our sheep industry is getting smaller.”
In the end, Tyler and Shanna Armstrong won top prize at the event for their market lamb.
While the smaller horses were being guided around the arena inside, the outdoor ring was full of their much bigger counterparts for the horse pull event.
Based on the crowds watching the event, the horse pull is one of the more popular shows at the fair.
The light class saw the two-horse teams pull weight in excess of 11,000 lbs. The winner of both the light and heavy class was Brent Gabie from Kazabazua.
The event was emceed by Bonnie Nolan, who said the event attracted more participants than she’s seen in years.
“[There were] teams from as far away as Napanee, Thomasburg and Deseronto,” she said.
Over at the Agriculture Awareness exhibit, Martin Schultz of Martin Schultz Apiaries was showing off his collection of beehives and gave a demonstration on the ins and outs of beekeeping.
As the rain poured down outside, he showed the assembled youngsters his gear – everything from the veil to the smoker used to pacify the bees – and even had a fully functioning beehive on display.
The hive was enclosed on both sides with a pane of glass, which gave the children a chance to press their noses against it and watch the bees at work.
After explaining what workers bees do and what the queen does, he asked the youngsters if they could point out the queen.
After scouring the hive, one industrious youngster pointed out the queen, and that a wasp was in the hive.
“They’re trying to get him out,” Schultz said euphemistically to the children. “Only bees are allowed in the hive.”
He also showed the kids how the bees made honey and even had some on offer, along with chunks of beeswax and candles made from the wax.
Back inside the arena, the light horse show was still going strong and was gearing up for a crowd favourite – the western games.
The first event tested the nerves of the participants in the ring by seeing who could ride around while balancing an egg on a spoon.
One by one the eggs dropped and splattered on the dirt below. The concentration of each rider was tattooed on their face as they listened to the instructions from the announcer while keeping a firm eye on their eggs.
Amelia Villeneuve emerged victorious from the nearly two-dozen riders who took part.
Next up was the apple dunk.
A bucket full of water with apples floating in it sat at one end of the arena. Participants came tearing into the ring from outside and raced to the bucket. Once there, they had to dismount their horse, pick up an apple with their teeth, get back on their horse and race back to the other end of the arena – all while holding the apple in their jaws.
While some participants managed to grab an apple and get back on their horse with ease, some found it difficult just to get an apple from the bucket.
Shaun Demers had the crowd laughing when, after several seconds biting at nothing more than water, he decided to dunk his upper body into the bucket to improve his chances.
Others who had a clean dismount and managed to nab an apple on one of their first attempts, emerged from the bucket to find their horse got bored and decided to go for a wander.
The most impressive performance came from Sidné Benoit who finished in a time of 21 seconds, along with winning first place.
At this point in the western games, the arena began to see an uptick in the number of spectators.
Their timing was perfect because they made it just in time for a game of musical sacks – basically musical chairs with feedbags instead of seats.
The game started with about a dozen riders who made their way around the outside of the ring as music played. Once the music stopped, everyone had to jump off their horse, run with their animal and stand on the nearest sack.
Each round saw the number of sacks reduced by one until there were only two remaining.
The last two had to ride around the ring and when the music stopped, the riders didn’t have to worry about their horses – only one another.
The event organizers wanted the two finalists – Demers and Ethan Law – to put on a show for the crowd.
So they had to wrestle each other for the sack.
Law was first to the sack but Demers arrived shortly after and delivered what many football coaches would call a textbook tackle.
As Demers and Law writhed around on the ground, the formerly passive and polite crowd at the horse show had turned into a bloodthirsty horde you’d expect at the Roman Coliseum.
After a couple of minutes of wrestling with no clear winner in sight, the announcer led the crowd in a ten second countdown to see if either one could gain the upper hand.
Eventually, Demers was given the win because he managed to get part of his foot in the bag, which was about as far as either of them got.
After the excitement in the arena, the crowds moved over to the main stage to catch Next Generation Leahy – a musical group of family members ranging in age from eight to 16.
After Next Generation Leahy, local musician Phil Denault hit the main stage to get the crowd warmed up for Sunday’s headliners: High Valley.
Fans in attendance were introduced to the Shawville Fair ambassadors before the band came out.
Eventually, High Valley hit the stage and kept the audience involved throughout the night.
With a mixture of their original songs and a few covers, the band had fans clapping in unison and some even climbing on one another’s shoulders to add to the excitement.